RCA RCA 32-Inch HD Smart Google TV, Frameless LED Review

It's a $119 TV. The Google TV software is great, but the 720p picture isn't. Only buy this if price is your only concern.

Look, this is a $119 TV. Let's get that out of the way first. The RCA 32-inch Smart Google TV is a budget box that gets you a screen and a streaming platform for your bedroom, kitchen, or guest room. The one thing to know? It's a smart TV first and a display second. The Google TV interface is genuinely good, but the 720p picture lands in the 7th percentile in our database. That means it's near the bottom for display quality. If you're looking for a cheap way to watch Netflix in a small space, this works. If you care about picture quality, keep reading.

The performance story is all about the smart features versus the screen. The Google TV platform is snappy and intuitive, landing in the 88th percentile for smart features. That's its best score. Setting up apps is a breeze. But the 32-inch 720p panel is the trade-off. With a 1366 x 768 resolution, it's not even full HD. Text can look fuzzy, and you won't get any real detail from that HDR10 badge. For a 32-inch screen viewed from across a small room, it's passable. Just don't expect it to wow you.

For $119, you get exactly what you pay for: a functional, smart-enabled screen. It's not a good value if you care about picture quality. It's a fantastic value if your only requirement is 'a TV that plays Netflix and doesn't cost much.'

Don't even compare this to the Sony Bravia or Samsung QLEDs listed. That's like comparing a scooter to a sports car. For a real budget alternative, look at TCL or Hisense 32-inch models. You might pay $20-$50 more, but you'll almost certainly get a 1080p panel and often a better overall picture. The RCA wins on pure, rock-bottom price and the Google TV platform, but loses on almost every hardware metric.

If you're looking for a TV with a good picture, this isn't it. Go get a TCL 3-Series instead. If you need reliable smart home integration, skip it—the Alexa issues are a real problem.

We can only recommend this if your budget is absolutely fixed at just over $100 and you need a smart TV right now. For a bedroom where you mostly fall asleep to background noise, it's fine. For any primary viewing location, or if you can stretch your budget even a little, spend the extra on a 1080p TCL. The better screen is worth it.